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Why Choose VCarve Pro?
VCarve Pro provides a powerful but intuitive software solution for creating and cutting parts on a CNC Router. VCarve Pro gives you the power to produce complex 2D patterns with profile, pocket, drill and inlay toolpaths, plus gives you the ability to create designs with v-carving textures as well as import and machine unlimited Vectric 3D clipart or single model files. The 'Pro' edition gives you unlimited job and toolpath size, true shape nesting & job set-up sheets, ideally suited to a production environment.
Complete set of 2D Design and Layout Tools
Easily create vectors from scratch or import and edit bitmap images
Create 2.5D Toolpaths
Including; V-Carving, Prism Carving, Mouldings, Textures & Fluting
Import and machine single 3D models
Including; STL, OBJ, 3DM and SKP file types
$2000 Worth of Free Clipart
Includes 2D and 3D Clipart that can be used in your own projects or edited to create new variations
$699 / £540 / €660 (excludes local taxes)
If you already own Cut2D or VCarve Desktop you can upgrade to VCarve Pro by simply paying the difference in cost between the two software packages. To find out more visit our pricing page here: Product Pricing
You can upgrade your software by logging in to your V&CO Portal account.
Unleash Your Creativity with VCarve Pro
2D Import & Editing
VCarve Pro can import 2D designs from other programs but also provides a full set of drawing and editing tools.
2D & 2.5D Toolpath Options
The toolpath options cover all typical 2D routing operations such as Profiling, Pocketing, Auto-Inlays, Drilling and Thread Milling as well as 2.5D strategies.
3D Rough & Finish
For 3D you can Rough and Finish the model and there are options to project 2D and 2.5D toolpaths onto the 3D surface.
Customize & Control
Each toolpath includes appropriate options to customize the settings and provide a high level of control for different types of operation.
3D Model Import
VCarve Pro includes the ability to import multiple Vectric 3D models as well as a single 3rd party model, where they can be assembled to suit your design.
Instant Preview Updates
All toolpaths can be previewed to show just how the part will look when it is actually cut, this allows instant feedback to allow toolpaths to be further optimized.
Click the buttons below to view more about specific features
Machine Parts on Two Sides
Two-Sided Machining adds the ability to create double-sided projects in the same session. It avoids the need to have 2 sessions, one for each side.
Job & Material Setup
In the Job Setup dialog, you can pick whether you want to create a single-sided, double-sided or a rotary job. You can change that, retrospectively.
Define how you want to flip the material for double-sided projects from the Job Setup dialog. This influences the positioning of the vectors and models so that geometry on each side is created in the appropriate positions relative to the opposite side.
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Multi-Sided View
You can view the opposite side's geometry using the keyboard shortcut '=', or through the 'View' menu.
In the 2D view, you will see the opposite side's vectors as if you were looking at them through the material block.
In the 3D view, you will see the entire merged model as if it was simulated.
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Importing STL Model
When importing an STL model (with the 'Import both Sides' option enabled) into a double-sided project, each side of the model will go onto a side.
You can import the entire model on each side by sliding the slicing plane all the way to the bottom. This is useful when importing models which contain non-convex surfaces, such as, a plate.
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Machine Wrapped Rotary Parts
Enables the use of a rotary axis (also called a 4th axis or indexer).
Wrapped Rotary Machining
Enables the use of a rotary axis (also called a 4th axis or indexer). Where you can create rotary projects and visualize your job in a wrapped environment, with the ability to create and simulate the toolpaths in an auto - wrapped simulation.
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Rotary Job and Material Setup
In the Job Setup dialog, you can pick whether you want to create a single-sided, double-sided job or a rotary job. You can change that, retrospectively.
Define your cylinder dimensions, the orientation of the job, how the 2D view will be laid out, and which axis we're wrapping around.
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Spiral Toolpaths
In order to create a toolpath that wraps around multiple times, one can create a long vector at a certain angle. Such a vector is an equivalent to the strip of fabric when it is unwrapped from the roll.
Although such a toolpath will exceed the 2D workspace of the rotary job, thanks to the wrapping process during both simulation and machining the toolpath will actually stay within material boundaries.
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Model Import into Rotary Project
The software has the ability to import full 3D models from third party software for unwrapping in a rotary job, where you can position and orient the model in a rotary view.
Not only can you import full 3D models for unwrapping the software also allows for the importing of "Flat 3D" models (relief style models) that you can position and simulate before cutting.
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Drawing & Layout Tools
The software has a comprehensive set of drawing tools to let you easily create vectors from scratch or add to imported data.
Vector Shape Creation
The software has a comprehensive set of drawing tools to let you easily create vectors from scratch or add to imported data. These include options for creating standard shapes (circle, elipse, rectangle, polygon and star) along with line, curve and arc drawing tools. There is also a powerful tool to create vector textures for panels and backgrounds. These tools can be controlled using typed input to create exact sized objects or can be used dynamically with the mouse to sketch your artwork. The tools also take advantage of the 'snapping' to let you use points on existing objects to 'snap' onto when you are drawing vectors.
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Picture Editing & Cropping
With the ability to import bitmaps into the software, you can further edit imported images using the 'Edit Picture' tool, this allows you to adjust the visual properties of a selected bitmap, enabling you to adjust the contrast, brightness and gamma of any selected image.
Borders of different sizes and radii can also be added to bitmaps for aesthetic purposes. Bitmaps can also be made black and white. The software also has the ability to crop images to any given vector allowing you to remove parts of the image you are not interested in.
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Image Tracing (Vectorization)
Image tracing also known as vectorization allows you to take an imported image such as a scanned drawing, graphic design or photo and to convert colors in that to vector outlines. These outlines can then be used as part of your design to create toolpaths or to generate 3D shapes using the modeling tools. The software will import many file formats including jpeg, bitmap, gif, png, tif, it will also extract images from a PDF file.
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Advanced Text Tools
The 'advanced text' tools let you access true type or open type fonts on your PC to create text outlines for your design. In addition, the software comes with a selection of specialist single stroke / stick engraving fonts for efficient machining when making things like badges or small signs.
When creating text you are able to see live feedback of the text that you create and edit. The text can be controlled using automatic sizing and layout options. There is an inbuilt spell checker where errors will be underlined in red, where you are able to locate the correct spelling as well as having the ability to add words to the software's dictionary too!
There are also editing tools for fitting text to a curve and interactive text arcing and spacing (kerning) where the text maintains formatting, allowing you to easily make edits after the text has been created. This text can be dragged dynamically along a curve so you can perfect the placement of your text.
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Import 2D Data (DXF, DWG, EPS, AI, SKP, SVG etc.)
Data can be imported from a huge range of other design programs using a variety of industry standard file formats. These include DXF, EPS, AI, SVG and SKP (SketchUp) as well as PDF files. Once imported, the program has a wide range of tools to make working with this data as efficient as possible.
A very important set of tools are those used to identify duplicate vectors and identify and rejoin open vectors. These tools can save an great deal of time when working with poor quality data to get it ready to machine.
As well as importing vectors from other programs the software also offers the ability to export your data in either DXF, EPS or AI file formats. This feature is very important if you need to share data with a customer in order that they can use it to plan a layout or installation.
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Basic Dimensioning
The dimensioning tools allows you to create a variety of different types of measurements on your drawing. These can be oriented in any direction or fixed horizontally or vertically. There are also options to add angular and arc dimensions. You can control the text height, font number of decimal places and position for each one. Dimensions can be snapped to vectors, guidelines and the corners or mid-points of each side of your work area.
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Vector Transform & Editing
Whether your design vectors have been created in the software or imported you have a large choice of editing options to prepare your part for toolpath creation or modeling. Vectors can be easily scaled, moved, mirrored, distorted, grouped, welded, trimmed, filleted, extended, offset, smoothed and joined together. As with the drawing tools you either have precise control over the editing values adjust the vectors very accurately or can use the mouse to dynamically make adjustments until your layout looks correct.
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Vector Layout
In addition to the editing tools the software also has tools to let you layout parts either in a rectangular array to create a grid of objects or in a circular array to create symmetrical layouts around a center point. When laying out a grid you can adjust mirroring options and shift alternate rows and columns to make more complex layout patterns.
Vector shapes can also be pasted along the path of another vector by specifying the distance between each copy or just fitting a specific number on the guiding object.
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Layer Management
The Layers are a very efficient way to keep your 2D data organized, one of the main uses is to allow you to temporarily hide data you were not currently working with. Layers could also be used to group vectors you might be using to model related shapes in a 3D design to make it simpler to work on a small part at a time.
The ability to associate toolpaths with specific layers and types of data means you can create Toolpath Templates which can be assigned to other parts that share the same layer structure. This is particularly powerful for applications like Cabinet Making where different designs can be automatically machined once a template has been set-up.
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Multi Sheet Support
Not only can you organise your design onto layers but you can also make use of multiple sheets in your projects to help manage and organise your work on a per sheet basis when working with multiple materials in your designs. Each sheet can have it's own dimensions and settings, making it an ideal solution for when you are working on a project that requires multiple materials. The sheets tab lists all of the current sheets and allows you to create, update and delete them. You can create sheets of different sizes and thicknesses as well as having the ability to control the material appearance for each sheet to better visualize your toolpaths as part of the overall project. All sheets within a project can be managed individually or collectively, making it simple to resize or update a specific selection of sheets.
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Rulers, Snap Grid and Guidelines
Rulers, Snap Grid and Guidelines help to make vector drawing and 3D part layout much simpler. These options can be switched on / off as required. When combined with Snapping options that automatically detect and snap the cursor to key regions on a design these tools make it easy to create very accurate part.
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Create Vector Texture
Repeating vector patterns can be quickly created using the 'create vector texture' tool. It's easy to modify the settings to create an infinite number of variations from regular wave patterns through to uneven natural looking grain lines.
These vectors can be machined using the profile and texture toolpaths to create decorative wavy texture panels along with wood-grain and sand-blast effects. These can also be projected onto a 3D surface to add even more variation.
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Smart Snapping
This allows you to snap to lines and extensions, which don't necessarily exist as geometry. It reduces the need to create construction geometry, and would be helpful in aligning vectors or nodes.
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Quick Keys
This allows you to add more precision to your shape creation and editing process more easily by allowing typed values while creating geometry. This is supported for creation of circles, ellipses, rectangles, polygons, stars, polylines and when in editing nodes or transforming vectors.
For example, while dragging to create a circle, you could type '3R' to create the circle with a radius of 3. Or, also while dragging, you could type '3D' to create one with a diameter of 3.
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Vector Validator
The Vector Validator is intended to help find issues with contours after file imports that are stopping tool-path creation such as overlapping contours or intersections. It also indicates zero-length spans.
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3D Assembly
Import multiple Vectric Clip Art 3D models (V3M) to create advanced 3D assemblies.
Import 3D Models (STL, OBJ, 3DM etc.) & Clipart (V3M)
Import a single 3D mesh file created in other CAD software such as,
- Rhino 5, SolidWorks, AutoCAD, Silo, MOI, Blender, SketchUp etc.
- STL, 3D DXF, OBJ, 3DS, VRML, 3DM, SKP file formats
Interactively change the size and orientation of imported 3D models.
Interactively rotate 3D mesh files into the required orientation for adding to a design.
Instantly convert designs from raised models to recessed mold cavities.
Easy to use interactive drag and drop, size, mirror and rotate tools allow 3D clipart designs to be edited to instantly produce unlimited design variations.
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3D Component Editing
Shapes can be easily scaled, moved, mirrored and grouped. You can also create a vector boundary around selected components which is useful for when you want a boundary vector of the composite model. VCarve also allows you to smooth a 3D object using the smooth tool.
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Relief Slicing
The software has a tool to Z-slice a part to create separate models if your CNC size, tooling or material limits the depth of part you can cut. Where you are able to choose the thickness of individual slices, where they can be tweaked and visualised in the 3D view to give you maximum control of how your model is sliced for machining. This helps to ensure that there are no thin slices that can be problematic from a machine and assembly point of view.
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3D View Component Manipulation
Many of the dynamic component editing tools can be accessed directly from the 3D view. This allows 3D objects to be moved, scaled and rotated. In addition how they combine with other shapes can be adjusted along with their height and even adding a tilt or fade.
Editing the components in the 3D view makes it quick and easy to see the immediate effect of the changes to the composite model and so reduce the time it takes to create a 3D layout.
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Mirror Mode
This feature allows you to define a component level so that it mirrors all of its components in a certain way, based on the mirror type. This allows you to build pleasing symmetrical arrangements with ease.
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Level Clipping
The level clipping mode makes it easy to constrain the model you are creating to a chosen boundary. Use vectors to define your boundary and the contents of your level are dynamically clipped so that only what lies inside the vectors is kept. This makes it simpler to assemble different models and allows you to rearrange your components and see the results of clipping in place.
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3D Component Manager
Our unique 'component' based modeling approach gives enormous flexibility when creating complex designs. The ability to work on small simple pieces makes it easier to build up the pieces you need to create a complex job. This also gives you the power to continue to edit individual parts of the design as you build it up. This approach is particularly useful if you need to make design changes based on customer feedback.
Using the component manager (component tree) individual 3D objects can be adjusted to change the way they interact with each other within a project. These can be further organized by the use of 'levels' to create sub-assemblies of shapes that first combine with each other before being added to the overall shape of the model.
As you make changes to a component the 3D model will update to show you instantly the effects of your choices making it easy to iterate through different design options.
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Clipart Browser
The clipart tab provides quick and convenient access to Vectric files containing 3D components or 2D vector artwork. This allows you to easily re-use previously created shapes in new projects.
This tab includes the library browser that allows you to add folders containing 3D components into the software or you can use the local files option that allows you to quickly see the contents of several folders of 3D components in one place.
The clipart tab also allows you to access the online clipart that comes free with the software, where the clipart can be downloaded directly from the running software (providing you have internet access). The software comes with previews of the clipart you're entitled to, and with internet access you can download the clipart straight into the software for ease of use.
The software gives you the choice of whether to display just the contents of the current folder or up to 3 sub-folders as well making it easy to access many models at once.
You can "drag & drop" a thumbnail into the 2D or 3D view and the selected object will be imported at the location of the dropped thumbnail and added to the model's component tree.
The clipart tab is a great way to browse and select from the free clipart that is included with your purchase. In addition to the free clipart, our sister company Design & Make has a variety of professionally created CNC ready clipart available to purchase. Visit Design & Make here designandmake.com/ to find out more.
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Free 3D Clipart (worth over $2,000)
The VCarve download includes a large variety of 2D and 3D clipart files that can be used as is, in your own projects or edited to create your own variations.
The files include a mix of formats. The 2D artwork (150 items) comes in CRV format including basic shapes, game layouts, moulding profiles, stylized text and more. The 3D files are V3M format.
Over 150 of the models are commercial quality pieces of 3D clipart from Design & Make. Each one of these is presented in 3 different styles, raised, dished and recessed (so actually 450+ variants), retail cost to purchase just these files would be over $2,000 if bought from the Design & Make website.
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Design & Make
Design & Make has a library of over 2500 high-quality, CNC-ready dimensional clip art models.
You will find a selection of relief-style clipart pieces, mini projects, and collections to suit every CNC project need. These can be purchased, downloaded and carved as individual models or combined to make more complex designs.
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The toolpath options cover all typical 2D routing operations, 2.5D and 3D machining strategies. All toolpaths can be previewed to show just how the part will look when it is actually cut.
Material Setup
Referencing the software to how your CNC will be setup is one of the most important elements of the process. A summary of the material set up is displayed at the top of the toolpath tab allowing you to quickly check the settings before you start calculating toolpaths. Any of these values can be easily adjusted to change the tool reference for its X,Y or Z zero location, move the position of a model in the material, adjust the position where your machine starts from or specify distance to ensure the tool lifts above any clamping that is being used.
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2D Production Profiling
Using the profiling toolpath strategy, objects can be cut out quickly and efficiently. Simply select the vector shapes you wish to profile, select the tool from the tool database and the software will do the rest. The profiling automatically offsets for the tool radius and sorts nested shapes to ensure that inner shapes such as the center of a letter 'O' are cut before the outer shape (so parts are not released from the material before they are cut). Full control of cut direction is offered along with either automatic or manual control of tool entry point for each shape.
Profile machining includes production cutting options that ensure parts can be held in place and accurately machined with high quality edges and corner detail.
- 3D tabs for smoother profiling plus advanced options for automatic positioning to hold parts in place when machining
- Lead in / out and overcut distance to prevent dwell marks appearing on components
- Advanced ramp options for controlling how the cutter enters the material, reducing heat build-up and cutter wear
- Profile around the outside / inside of open shapes
- Sharp internal and external bevelled edges and corners
- Last pass allowance
Cut-outs can be done in multiple passes depending on the maximum cutting depth of the tool used and a positive or negative allowance can be specified to either 'under cut' or 'overcut' the shape if required. The number of passes on a cut can be edited very precisely to allow very thin final cuts or to individual add or remove particular cut depths.
A separate last pass allowance can be specified for the last pass in a profile toolpath. If this allowance is given, then all but the last pass will be over-cut by the specified allowance with the final pass being the only pass which cuts to the actual edge of the part. This can significantly improve the finish on the cut-edge.
The ability to specify that square corners are required is another powerful feature. This is often used when profiling with a v-bit tool, where with a conventional toolpath the tool will 'roll' round a sharp external corner leaving a radius on the top of the chamfer created by the tool, with the 'square corners' option an angular chamfer will be created instead.
The profile toolpath is probably the most important toolpath option available. It is used for some of the simplest and also the most complex things you may do with your CNC. The software has been structured to let you customize whether you just want simple options for quick cut-outs or whether you want to access more advanced features to control cutting on particular material. This allows both new and experienced users to decide how much information they need to be presented with when creating this frequently used function.
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Fast and Efficient Pocketing – optimizes use of multiple tools
The pocket toolpath makes machining the material away from inside a vector shape efficient and easy to achieve. Just select all the vectors defining the shapes you want to cut and the program will sort the vectors to identify islands automatically and offset the boundaries for the selected tool radius.
The 2D pocketing toolpath has the ability to control pass depths very precisely, either automatically based on the tool settings or where required the user can specify any combination of depths for a particular tool.
Either climb or conventional cutting directions can be specified in order to produce the best edge finish for your selection of material and cutter. The tool can also be ramped into the job to reduce cutter stress when entering the material.
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Helical Arc Support
Output helical arcs in a way that your machine understands. Makes for smoother cuts and smaller file sizes.
Helical arcs are like regular arcs when viewed in 2D but where the start z and the end z differ. They are typically found in toolpaths where ramping occurs.
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Whether you are drilling a single hole or hundreds, just select the vectors representing the holes and the software will drill the center of each vector to the specified depth. The grouping feature makes it easy to associate all vectors for a particular toolpath strategy together so only one needs to be selected. The tool database includes a dedicated drill tool type so that the true tool geometry can be seen in the toolpath previews.
As well as a single Z plunge you also have the option to activate peck drilling, which drills to a specified depth, retracts the tool to clear the chips, drills down to the next step, retracts the tool and so on until the required finish depth is reached.
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Thread Milling Toolpath
The thread milling toolpath enables you to machine holes for standard size screws in metals, woods, and acrylics, and is also useful for the creation of decorative wood fasteners.
The thread milling toolpath has the option to create both internal and external threads, for example if you wanted to create a cavity to screw something into or if you wanted to create an exterior thread on something like a bolt!
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Auto-inlay Toolpaths
The auto-inlay toolpath options calculate profile cut-out and pocketing toolpaths for parts that need to be assembled to make inlays and inserts.
- Automatic cutter radius compensation on corner regions to ensure male shapes will fit into female pockets or cavities
- Allowance option to ensure a sufficient 'gap' is created to allow parts to fit together
- 4 different Inlay options that are designed to make machining inlays very simple and straightforward (straight, stepped, pocket and hole)
- Ideal toolpath option for sign makers, woodworkers, plastic and solid surface fabricators who need to cut parts that fit closely together
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Quick Engrave for Diamond Drag Tools
Quick Engrave can be used to create toolpaths for Diamond drag tooling. This is typically used for marking engraved products such as gifts, awards, plaques, badges, pens, trophies etc.
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Precision V-Carving
V-Carving uses a constant angled cutter that's moved at flowing variable depth to create a 3D carved effect on the job, similar to the way a craftsman would work by hand. The software automatically calculates a path defined by the combination of the angle of the tool specified and the width and shape of the vectors being machined.
The extremely fast and robust Vectric VCarving engine handles complex designs with ease providing both fast calculation speed and robust handling of imperfect data.
As well as simple VCarving, the software supports many advanced VCarving strategies, such as 'flat bottomed' VCarving. Or optionally using multiple tools for your engraving jobs, reducing both machining time and tool wear.
The option to use vector start points lets you choose the positions the tool will enter the material. For some applications this can help reduce the load and as such potential marking of the finished part, created by tool vibration when plunging into a deep area.
Another advanced capability is the support for VCarving areas wider than the tool by making multiple clearance passes to achieve the required depth. This is done automatically by the software when the carved area is deeper than the maximum cutting depth of the tool.
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Fluting Toolpaths - Ramp In/Out
Fluting is a special toolpath type for cutting tapered grooves often known as 'flutes' by ramping the cutter into and out of the material. When using this toolpath the software drives the tool along the center of the vector giving you control over the way the tool ramps into the start and end of each selected object. This has many interesting applications outside of just the standard uses you would expect for this type of operation.
Perfect for:
- Woodworking and solid surface machining.
- Flutes on columns and fireplaces
- Drainage grooves on kitchen sink and shower units
- Options for ramping in and out to create unique decorative results
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Efficient Texture Toolpath
Textured panels are often specified by interior designers and architects and textures are also a very useful option for creating backgrounds on dimensional signs. Vectric has a unique approach to generate unique 'hand carved' looking textures which still machine extremely efficiently.
Once you specify a tool (typically a pointed or round profile) then you have various settings you can set to create the characteristics of your texture toolpath. To give these textures a more natural and less machine made look you can set different levels of randomness. The toolpath will replicate the same type of move that would be made by someone using a chisel to carve overlapping strokes into the material. Creating this as a toolpath move (rather than as a 3D model) will minimize the hand-finishing and also the machining time required to cut this.
Textures can also be 'trimmed' to a vector boundary allowing the creation of this type of finish in a background area of a job. This is a look very popular with sign makers using Vectric software.
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Raised Prism Machining
The Raised Prism machining strategy is prefect for cutting high quality raised lettering and shapes on signs for restaurants, hotels and bars etc. that look hand-made.
- Raised Prism carving uses the side angle of V cutters to rapidly form angled sides around the selected shapes.
- Automatically calculates the material thickness required to create a full prism based on the job size and cutter angle.
- Calculates multiple Z passes when rough machining is required to remove material from around the prism shape.
- Typically used when cutting raised lettering on signs.
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Photo VCarving Toolpath Strategy
Use the PhotoVCarving toolpath strategy to convert photographs and images into toolpaths producing stylised engraved designs. The created toolpaths engrave a series of lines at different depths to produce the desired image.
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3D Roughing and Finishing
There are two toolpaths which are typically used to machine the 3D parts of a job. The areas that these toolpaths cut is governed by selecting one of the three machining limit boundary options, model boundary, material boundary or selected vector(s). Model boundary will use the outer silhouette of the composite model (all the 3D components visible in the 3D View) at the time of calculation. This means there is no need to create a vector boundary around them for these operations. Material boundary will create a toolpath that completely fills the entire job area. Selected vector(s) will use any vectors you have selected in the 2D view as the boundary for the toolpath.
To remove the majority of unwanted stock as quickly as possible most jobs require a 3D roughing toolpath to be calculated. There are two roughing strategies available z-level and 3D raster each of these has advantages depending on the type of shape being cut. The toolpath also has an option to specify an allowance to leave a skin of protective material on the part for the finish cut to clean up.
3D finish machining cuts the 3D part of the job to the exact size. The tool parameters let you balance the quality of the surface finish with how long the part will take to cut. Depending on the shape of the part there is a choice of raster and offset cutting strategies.
Detailed regions can be machined selectively using smaller cutters to ensure the finest of detail on a 3D project is accurately machined.
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Rest Machining
Rest machining is a technique which uses multiple tools to try and efficiently optimize machining time, material removal and tool lifespan. Within the 3D finish toolpath there is the option to use more than one tool, with each tool removing any remaining material that the previous tool was unable to machine. The rest machining technique can be controlled by specifying parameters which determine what areas are worth machining with the smaller tool.
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Project Toolpath onto 3D Model
The conventional 2D / 2.5D toolpath strategies can also be projected onto an underlying 3D model surface. This allows text or other shapes that follow the 3D contours of the part to be efficiently machined onto the 3D component model.
- VCarve or engrave at constant depth onto a 3D surface
- Pocket, profile, drill and texture onto the 3D model
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High Quality Toolpath Preview
One of the most important productivity tools available in the software is the realistic 3D toolpath preview support. The results of each individual or the combination of all the toolpaths can be previewed cutting into a 3D preview model. This means that whether your job is a simple toolpath with one tool, or created from a complex combination of tools and strategies at different levels you can be sure that when the job is cut, it is right first time.
As well as showing that the toolpaths are correct, the high quality rendering and ability to use real world material textures and fill colors is a very valuable sales tool. Using the simulation you can create customer proofs and evaluate design options without actually having to cut anything!
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Tool Database
The software has a built in tool database to make cutter management quick and easy. Tools can be organized in any way that suits your workflow. There is automatic support for machine management and material management. Tools can be filtered for your current material and machine settings, which makes selecting the right tool for the job simple.
The tool database contains a powerful tool naming system. This allows you to have consistent tool names, and for those tool names to match the properties of your cutter.
Your tool database can be synced with your online V&Co account so that changes made to the tool database on one machine can be easily transferred to other running instances.
You can share your tool database using a link from your V&Co account. This is particularly useful for users wanting to share their tool data and settings without the end user overwriting their own database.
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Online Post Processor and Machine Management
Vectric assists with the management of your CNC machine, its capabilities (for example rotary or laser add-ons), associated post-processors and default tool cutting feeds and speeds for a selection of materials. As always our software is fully customizable for those who want to have full, low-level, control but Vectric's 'Kickstarter' wizard can help you get started with a set of tools with reasonable initial settings using our constantly updated online list of the most common machine brands and models. The 'Kickstarter' wizard not only ensures that you have the right post-processors and machine configurations straight-away, but the management system also allows you to optionally stay up to date if relevant newer post-processors for your machine are released in the future all from within the software.
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Estimated Machining Times
To help estimate how long toolpaths will take to cut the software will calculate a time based on the length of the toolpath and the specified feeds and speeds that have been entered for the selected tool. This can be tweaked by the operator by editing the 'scale factor' so over time a value can be optimized based on actual machine performance to ensure the estimate is as close as possible to the actual cutting time.
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Toolpath Tiling – Divides toolpaths to fit material or machine limits
Using the Toolpath Tiling options it is possible to machine objects and designs that are many times larger than the available area of your CNC machine bed.
This process is also invaluable if the maximum sizes of your material pieces are limited. In both cases, a much larger project can still be machined by breaking the toolpath down into manageable tiles or strips, each of which can fit within the machineable area of your CNC machine, or on the available material blocks.
Once cut, the tiles can then be re-assembled to form the finished piece.
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Toolpath Templates
Toolpath templates allow you to improve the efficiency of your production processes by saving the complete toolpath settings for common operations. These settings can then be re-used at any time on different design geometry. Frequently used strategies and tooling can thus be applied to similar jobs, quickly and easily.
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Form Tools - custom shaped cutter profiles
The software allows you to add your own custom tools shapes to the tool library and generate toolpaths and simulate the finished result!
Now you can simulate the effects of complex roman ogee cutters, round over bits and any other custom tool shape you desire. Simply draw the tool profile using the vector drawing tools or import the profile from the manufacturer and you can add your custom tool to the list. In the tool database you can specify feed rates, spindle speeds, cutting depths etc. in the same way that you do for any of the standard tool types.
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Wrapped Rotary Axis Toolpaths
Wrapped Rotary Axis Toolpath postprocessing allows all toolpaths created in the software to be saved and run on CNC machines fitted with rotary axis or rotary indexer setups. These setup functions also allow you to specify your rotary part setup and view the wrapped results in the 3D view.
This function can be used for designing and cutting projects such as fluted columns and barley twists or engraving text onto round projects.
Note: This functionality wraps standard 3 axis toolpaths around a cylindrical axis, substituting one of the linear axis to drive the rotation of the block of material while it is being cut.
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Production Plate Engraving
Production Plate Engraving lets you merge text lists into templates for badges and industrial plates. It can be used to merge CSV and text based lists using variables that can automatically scale to fit a pre-made design layout.
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Pro Edition Features
No size limit, true shape nesting, toolpath templates and more
True Shape Nesting
True Shape Nesting lets you automatically arrange and fit vector shapes and components into your material size or user definable area, to get optimal material usage and minimum wastage. Part Nesting is perfect for Sign and Cabinet makers who need to minimize material wastage and cut as many parts – letters & cabinet doors / panels – as possible from sheet materials.
Reduce Material Costs = Increased Profits
The nesting routine places vector shapes and/or components as close to each other as possible ensuring a sufficient gap to allow the parts to be cut out correctly. The nesting includes options to control part direction to reflect material grain or machine orientation. It intelligently determines what parts of your geometry should be nested together. It can also automatically nest objects on both sides of a job together to create two-sided nested geometry.
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Create Merged Toolpath
The create merged toolpath function allows you to combine toolpaths that use the same tool into a single, new, toolpath that is generally more efficient than cutting the constituent toolpaths independently. This can be particularly useful if you want a complete individual part to be cut before the CNC moves onto the next piece as it can merge the toolpaths into individual components.
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Create Job Sheet
The create set-up job sheet command allows you to create a summary sheet that details all the important information you will need at your CNC machine when you come to run the toolpaths. This can be used as a reference to ensure you have the setup correct, have loaded the correct tool etc. It can also be used to archive with an old job as a quick reference file to see what the job the looked like and the machining that was involved for that project.
You can also edit this to change the logo to an image of your own choice, adjust the header, footer and border colours and even customize which sections of information to include.
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Toolpath Templates
Toolpath templates allow you to improve the efficiency of your production processes by saving the complete toolpath settings for common operations. These settings can then be re-used at any time on different design geometry. Frequently used strategies and tooling can thus be applied to similar jobs, quickly and easily.
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Array Copy Toolpath
Similarly to the area copy tool, this toolpath allows you to duplicate one or more toolpaths (its children) as a block, based on the dimensions you enter in its properties.
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No Size Limit
Our VCarve Pro and Cut2D Pro allows you to work with any job size meaning that there are no limitations to the size you want to work with.
VCarve Desktop & Cut2D Desktop only support job sizes up to a maximum of 25.0 inches x 25.0 inches without tiling. You can cut jobs larger than this limit but you will need to use the Toolpath Tilingfeature to cut the job in sections.
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Gadgets are small programs that add additional functionality to Vectric products. They can be used to add new features to the software or automate common sequences of tasks. Examples include adding the ability to cut dovetail style joints with a standard end mill and applying toolpath templates to every sheet in a nested job followed by automatically post-processing and saving the files for your machine tool. You can also associate specific key combinations to these to very quickly access them as part of your standard work-flow.
You can browse the gadgets available here: http://gadgets.vectric.com.
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Other Features
Including; Import Toolpaths, Printing, File Thumbnails, Video Tutorials, 64-Bit Support, Gadgets and more.
Import Toolpaths from other Vectric Programs
Toolpaths generated in PhotoVCarve can be imported into the software to combine with other toolpath types.
Multiple PhotoVCarve projects can be imported and positioned, where additional elements can then be added and machined. All of the toolpaths can then be previewed and saved from the software.
Please Note: Photo VCarving toolpath strategy is included with VCarve Desktop, VCarve Pro and Aspire. PhotoVCarve can also be purchased on its own, for more details see the PhotoVCarve area of the web site.
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The contents of either the 2D or 3D view can now be printed using the Print command on the File menu. Simply select the view you wish to print (2D or 3D) and then click the Print command. The standard Windows printer dialog allows you to select the printer and adjust its properties. When the OK button in this dialog is clicked, the view will be printed.
The Print Preview command on the File menu allows you to check the layout of your page before you print. The printed view is always scaled to exactly fit the currently selected page size (including allowance for margins). Drawings are not, therefore, printed at actual size and are not printed across multiple pages.
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Online Clipart Access
We give you access to the online clipart that comes free with your purchase. This clipart can be downloaded directly from your V&CO account in the running software. The software comes with previews of the clipart you're entitled to in the clipart tab so that you can see all of the options available to you and download the items of interest,
In order to get the latest entitlements, click the refresh button. To import the clipart from the clipart tab into your job, simply drag and drop your desired model onto your part.
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File Thumbnails
Files saved from the software include a thumbnail image. Windows explorer can make use of these thumbnails to show you a preview of each file when you browse a folder.
The software also supports Windows drag and drop functionality to quickly add pieces of 2D or 3D clipart into an existing model directly from windows explorer. With windows explorer open, simply click and drag the 3D clipart thumbnail of the file you want from the explorer window into the 2D or 3D View. The selected file will be imported automatically and displayed in the software.
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Integrated Help
Help for all forms can now be found using the handy integrated help functionality. Click on the question mark icon on the top of each form to get the help for that specific function.
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Video Tutorials
All of our products have in depth video tutorials and data files you need to work through the examples. These are split into sections beginning with getting started projects to let you see the process to produce a complete part and start to understand the general workflow. Then there are videos to cover each area of use within the program.
The videos are designed to take you step by step through different types of projects to explain the key methods you will use in the software and to demonstrate these on real-world examples. You can just watch and absorb the contents or follow along pausing where necessary to complete a task. In addition to learning how to use the program the videos include tips and tricks for better use of the software. The result of each project (along with the Clip Art) provides a library of parts which can be machined to create sample files to improve your CNC skills or help you to demonstrate your capabilities to potential customers.
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The Vectric Forum
We are very proud of the quality of our software, and maintain an active and open forum at forum.vectric.com. The forum lets users ask questions and discuss techniques related to CNC and the software. In addition to direct input from Vectric, there are a large number of enthusiastic users who are always willing to help on any topic associated with CNC machining. Another very interesting section of the forum is the gallery area where users can post images of projects they have done using Vectric software. Please take a look, there are some very nice examples of work on there.
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Learn even more about our software
We have only been able to give a brief overview of some of the software capabilities here. To really understand the speed, ease of use and full scope of what the program can do then please download the trial version and try it for yourself.
Video Tutorials
The video tutorials will get you up and running quickly and the trial version is supplied with a number of standard demonstration files which you can scale and cut on your own machine using your own tooling to verify the quality of the toolpaths from the software and compatibility with your machine. In addition to the standard demonstration files we supply, you can load any of your own data files and preview them using the standard toolpath simulation capabilities of the program.
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Finally, if you have reached this far, we'd like to thank you for your interest in Vectric software and encourage you to download the free, no registration required trial version now and see what the software can do for you!


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Autumn is one of my favorite times of the year for cycling. The colors of changing leaves, the bluebird skies, the crisp cool air; they all make this time of year special. But since September 8th, I've not been able to ride my bike. Instead, I'm learning to appreciate my nearby neighborhood on foot. Despite living in Watertown for 8 years, we had only attempted to explore the Mt Auburn Cemetery once, because while they allow cars on the roads within the cemetery, bikes are banned. We were practically tackled at the gate the one and only time that we attempted to explore.
Sadly, it's not that the caretakers don't want tourists to come appreciate this beautiful place with lovely trees and chapels and monuments and an amazing view of the Boston skyline. In fact, every year the local paper includes Mt Auburn Cemetery as a great place for leaf peeping. But after being chased away, we found other tree-filled park like cemeteries where we could ride through on our bikes at a respectful pace and take in the beauty of autumn.
I've described some of the nearby cemeteries as parks with granite monuments etched with the names of the people who have paid to preserve the land.
Forced off my bike this year, I've been walking lots for therapy and seeking out new places, so I decided to try Mt Auburn again, and I found a magic place. In recent weeks, I've made it a regular destination, but this past Monday, I found it on fire! I only had the camera on my phone, but was happy to find that the phone captured the beauty of the day quite well. I've tried to cull my photos, but I just loved the reds of the day, and practically filled the memory on my phone with pictures. I'm sharing just a fraction of them here.
If you go, there are bike racks at the gate. Bring a lock, and enjoy a nice stroll. Then head across the street to Sofra for a delicious lunch or dessert.


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By Husmukh Kerai
In February 2005 Arsene Wenger created a bit of unwanted English football history when he picked a 16-man Arsenal squad to take on Crystal Palace in the Premier League without a single Englishman involved.
The Frenchman was roundly castigated for his unprecedented selection. The demise of the England national team suddenly became the Gunners manager's fault entirely.
"I don't look at the passport of people but at the quality and attitude," Wenger told reporters after his English-less side overcame the Eagles that night, but he did make a promise that day. The 63-year-old insisted the Gunners had contributed heavily to the national side over the years and would do so again when his talented crop of youngsters graduated from Arsenal's academy.
Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs were two members of that promising group and they were joined by Theo Walcott the following year, who had represented the Three Lions prematurely after making the switch from Southampton in 2006.
All three of those Englishmen, all now full internationals, came off the bench against Brighton in the FA Cup on Saturday to inspire a late push for victory. Wenger's prophecy was correct; the trio, still in their formative years as footballers, can arguably be regarded as the Gunners' most reliable performers this season.
The future looks bright for Arsenal and indeed England after they, alongside Carl Jenkinson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, all committed their long-term futures to the club.
Their collective contract signing was presented at a time when many Gunners' fans were clamouring for new blood at the Emirates. Frustratingly for most, it may well turn out to be Wenger's only January business but, after the gross mishandling of player contracts at the club over the past couple of years, is that really such a bad thing?
In the end, it was the young English cavalry that got Arsenal through to the fifth round of the FA Cup, proving just how important that nucleus of locally produced talent can be over the coming years.
Wilshere, Walcott and Gibbs deserve to perform alongside players good enough – and not simply fortunate enough – to be their team-mates, but too often this season that hasn't been the case. Their colleagues, in the main part, don't show the same desire to win football matches, with the very unreliable defence the standout culprits.
Wenger could do with one more English Marshall at the heart of his back line to give the Gunners a solid core. They lack a vocal leader from the back; if Jack Wilshere is to captain the side in the manner of Cesc Fabregas – leading by example on the pitch – then Wenger must do his damndest to find another player cut from the same cloth as Tony Adams.
What Per Mertesacker lacks in pace and mobility he makes up for in anticipation and organisation but, while he may be Wenger's most reliable central defender, the German doesn't have the fiery personality to lead this Gunners side. Thomas Vermaelen and Laurent Koscielny have gone backwards, if anything, seemingly trying to one-up each other this season with a series of increasingly mad decisions and rash challenges.
Wenger has only ever gone after two English centre-backs in his sixteen-plus years in north London: Matthew Upson and, rather more significantly, Sol Campbell. Campbell's arrival at the club was a landmark deal, the like of which today would transform the mood at the Emirates, and possibly put an end to the worrying trend of lacklustre defensive performances.
Campbell famously left White Hart Lane to join Wenger's side because he wanted to challenge for trophies. The Gunners can't offer that anymore. This is why someone like Gary Cahill, who Wenger had tracked, eventually chose to move to Chelsea ahead of the Gunners – a decision he probably didn't regret last May in Munich.
Elsewhere, Sir Alex Ferguson pipped Wenger to the signings of promising young centre-backs Phil Jones and Chris Smalling. While the Gunners were never favourites to sign any of the three players mentioned, you get the feeling that they could have perhaps landed one of them had they pushed the boat out a little.
Steve Bould, Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Sol Campbell. Tying Wilshere and Walcott in for the long term is a good start, but Wenger must add to that illustrious list of gritty yet classy English centre-backs if he wants to unlock the brimming potential of his English cavalry.


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Projectname | EU-Project: Geo capacity building initiative in Central Asia |
Contact Person | Dipl.-Ing. Dimitriy Bogdanov & Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus Brieß |
Funded by | Seventh Framework Programme |
The project seeks to continue fostering cooperative ties between the countries of Central Asia and Europe in developing and applying Earth Observation (EO) technologies for effective environmental monitoring.
One of SEOCA's chief objectives is to take a decisive step towards deeper integration of respective organisations from Central Asian countries into the activities of GEO. Another mission is to be seen in the further development of the cooperation between Europe and Central Asian countries within GEO by implementing a coherent set of activities and establishing GEO-related capacity in the domain of Earth Observation in the target countries.
This global goal will be attained by assessing the status quo in all Central Asian countries with regard to existing needs, technical and economic capacities, potential stakeholders and providers as well as their requirements (along the lines of the 9 Social Benefit Areas of GEOSS). Subsequently, the project foresees developing a set of National White Books "National needs and capacities in the domain of Earth Observations" and GEONETCast terminals.


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Haywood likely to hike room tax, change tourism board make-up
A proposed 1-cent increase in Haywood County's tax on overnight lodging and a completely new make-up of its tourism board will likely be approved during this session of the General Assembly.
The draft of a proposed bill has been circulating throughout the county for a couple of weeks, and county commission Chairman Larry Ammons said in all likelihood the bill will go to the General Assembly with only minor changes.
"We will tell our representative these concerns, particularly about the board make-up, and see how he feels about introducing it," Ammons said a public hearing attended by about 35 people last week.
"This is probably it as far as public input," Ammons said as the meeting concluded.
The bill, as written, would add 1 cent to Haywood County's 3-cent tax on overnight lodging. The $650,000 it generates is used by the Tourism Development Authority to promote tourism. The extra cent — roughly $215,000 — would be divided among the different zip codes for expenses that still would have to approved by the TDA.
Related Items
The most important question left unanswered after last week's public meeting is the new make-up of the Tourism Development Authority. If the bill is approved, the current TDA would be disbanded in July and a new one appointed.
According to the draft, the new TDA would consist of two from small lodging businesses, one from large lodging businesses, two from tourism-related businesses and four more members who would be appointed by the county's four municipalities — Maggie Valley, Waynesville, Canton and Clyde — for a total of nine.
"There is a standard of board membership in Raleigh of nine, and so that is what we have here," said Ammons.
However, he also said the board may tweak the make-up. Some argued that the lodging industry is not adequately represented on the TDA board under the new proposal, or that not enough large lodging businesses would have a voice.
"Having only one voice for large properties is a concern," said TDA board member Alice Aumen. "It's not fair to be overly represented by small lodging owners."
Bed and breakfast owner Sandy Wright said she wanted to take a vote on a proposed change that would only allow lodging owners on the TDA. She argued that since they pay the tax, they should decide how it's spent.
Ammons questioned that logic: "You don't think Ghost Town folks should be on the TDA board?"
At this point it's unclear how the board make-up might change, but at one point in the meeting a proposal came up to increase the number of seats on the board and allocate two seats each to small and large lodging business owners.
Big differences
There are a few striking differences between the bill in Raleigh and the bill the county commissioners wanted. For starters, the county commissioners wanted to tap into tourism tax revenue to fund recreation — from soccer complexes to greenways. They wanted a 1-cent increase in the room tax that could be reserved for recreation projects. Their theory: recreation amenities would not only make the area more attractive to tourists and part-time residents but would help land big youth tournaments that can bring hundreds of families into the county for a weekend.
The county isn't asking for the 1-cent increase for recreation in the proposed bill after all. Legislators say it would be too hard to get passed in Raleigh. That suits some in the tourism industry, who were skeptical about the county trying to get its hands on the tourism tax revenue.
Different uses for money
The bill will open the door for more flexible uses of tourism tax revenue. Before, tourism tax revenue had to be spent on tourism promotion — strictly interpreted as advertising and promotions with a direct hand in reeling in tourists.
The new law will allow up to one-third of the money to be spent on "tourism-related expenditures" allowing for some much more liberal uses of the money. Under the old rule, money for a festival could only be spent advertising that festival —not hiring entertainment or renting a stage. Under the new rule, money can be used to cover the hard costs of actually putting on the festival.
Under the old rule, money to install lights at the Maggie Festival Grounds would have been a stretch. While lights would certainly benefit events at the festival grounds, which in turn attract more people, putting in lights didn't exactly qualify under a strict definition of tourism promotion. Under the new rule, lights could be considered a tourism-related expense.
The county commissioners' greenways and ball fields could also be considered a tourism-related expense. But the county will be hard pressed to tap into the funds directly. The bill specifically gives the tourism board the authority to dole out money for tourism-related expenditures — or not.
"This would be based on the judgment of the Tourism Development Authority," said Scotty Ellis, executive director of the TDA, while going over the ins-and-outs of the bill at a meeting of the tourism board.
That once again appeased some in the tourism industry who were concerned about losing control over how tourism revenue was spent and seeing it taken over by the county.
New division
Historically, the tourism board reserved a portion of the tourism tax money for geographic areas within the county. In recent years, the tourism board moved away further and further away from that approach and put more money into countywide marketing strategies. The tourism communities in Waynesville, Maggie and Canton got less and less to spend on their own special projects.
This bill will mandate that 1 cent of the room tax — about $220,000 — be reserved for special projects in five geographic areas defined by zip codes: Maggie Valley, Waynesville, Lake Junaluska, Canton and Clyde. The money will be divided up according to the amount collected in each zip code, which means Maggie Valley and Waynesville will get the lion's share.
"It has been a long time coming for the areas not to have to come and beg before this board for money," said James Carver, tourism board member and Maggie Valley restaurant owner.
The reasoning: each geographic area has its own special tourism marketing needs and niches that aren't addressed in a countywide tourism strategy.
The bill doesn't exactly equate to blank checks for the five geographic areas to use as they please, however. The TDA will have the final say on what projects in each area do or don't get the money.
The bill requires the tourism board to make its decisions based on "recommendations from and in consultation" with each of the five geographic areas, but doesn't spell out how to do so, leaving the tourism board a bit puzzled.
"It doesn't say how to do it, it just says in consultation with each of the five collection areas," Ellis said at a recent TDA meeting.
One tourism board member questioned the idea of divvying the money up according to where it was collected. Instead, why not just have the extra cent go into one big pot to fund special projects regardless of their geographic area?
"The 1 percent should be left for all festivals and events in Haywood County and leave it up to us to divvy up," suggested Tom Halsey, a tourism board member.
It is difficult to determine whether any given tourist staying in Maggie Valley, for example, came there specifically to see Maggie, or whether they came to see and do a host of things in the county and simply stayed in Maggie because that's where they could find a room. Under the funding formula, however, Maggie would get credit for any tourist that stays in Maggie — chalking up a share of that tourist's tax revenue simply because that's where the tourist laid their head.
Halsey questioned the formula, which rewards Maggie greatly at the expense of Canton and Clyde, where projects will likely go unfunded it restricted to by percentage.
"That's disparate distribution," Halsey said. "Our mantra here is promoting Haywood County. It could be that Canton one year has all these great festivals we want to fund but we would be prevented from it."
At a public meeting to discuss the proposed bill, Maggie Valley Mayor Roger McElroy said, "We're happy with the proposed bill, very happy with it."
In all likelihood, there wouldn't be a bill at all if it weren't for the vocal complaints from the Maggie tourism community after the tourism board sharply cut funding for special projects last year. Maggie lost a significant portion of its operating budget for the Maggie Chamber and for festivals. The Maggie tourism community took their complaints to the county commissioners, who in turn appointed a task force, which in turn recommended a one-cent increase for special projects in geographic areas.
— By Becky Johnson and Scott McLeod


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4602.2 - Household Water and Energy Use, Victoria, October 2011 Quality Declaration
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 04/09/2012
Page tools: Print Page Print All | ||||||||||||||
More inner city Melburnians used public transport than outer Melburnians People living in Melbourne's Zone 1 are more likely to have used public transport in the last month than people living in Melbourne's Zone 2, according to a recent report released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). More than half (57%) of people living in Melbourne Metropolitan Transport Zone 1 used public transport in the last month, significantly higher than the proportion of people living in Zone 2 (29%). The report found that over half (51%) of people aged 18 to 34 used public transport in the last month, compared with a third (32%) of people aged 35 years and over. While a similar number of people in Zone 1 and Zone 2 used public transport three to seven days per week, Zone 1 patrons were more likely than Zone 2 patrons to use public transport one to two days a week (28% and 16% respectively). Zone 2 patrons (21%) were more likely to be low frequency users - less than once a month - than Zone 1 patrons (7%). The report also found that:
Further details are in Household Water and Energy Use (cat. no. 4602.2), available for free download from www.abs.gov.au. Media notes:
Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window. |


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In April, the NASA Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) team announced the discovery of a weak gamma-ray burst that may be associated with the recent LIGO discovery of gravitational waves from a black hole merger, an event known as GW150914. The team notes that Fermi observations associated with future LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave detections are needed to reveal whether this weak burst is a plausible counterpart or a chance coincidence. The NASA Fermi team stands behind this finding, which has successfully passed through the scientific review process and is awaiting publication in a special issue of The Astrophysical Journal.
The AntiCoincidence Shield of the European Space Agency's INTEGRAL spacecraft, however, did not detect the GBM burst, a result that might be incompatible with the Fermi finding, a possibility noted in the discovery paper. In an effort to resolve this apparent discrepancy, three members of the Fermi team who are not authors of the discovery paper undertook an alternate analysis of the spectral properties of the GBM data. These authors conclude that while the signal was consistent with the INTEGRAL data, it was also consistent with a fluctuation of background noise.
To establish the existence and significance of the burst, the authors of the original paper included data from all 14 GBM detectors, a result that is not addressed in the new study. The team also examined spectral information from two GBM detectors in an effort to further understand the nature of the signal. The new study applies a different analysis method to the data from the same two detectors and finds a different spectral shape.
Careful examination and criticism of assumptions, analysis methods and interpretations is a normal part of the scientific process. The Fermi team is committed to open scientific dialogue. The authors of both studies are working together (and with the INTEGRAL team) to explore these differences further.


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This article is more than 1 year old
Next Windows name unveiled: Windows 7
Meet the new Windows - same as the old Windows
The name of the next Windows client operating system will be Windows 7.
Microsoft vice president of Windows product management Mike Nash blogged Monday Microsoft is adopting the current codename for the final product, for reasons best explained by himself.
It has something to do with not wanting to get too far away from the dream of Windows Vista. We think.
"Over the years, we have taken different approaches to naming Windows. We've used version numbers like Windows 3.11, or dates like Windows 98, or "aspirational" monikers like Windows XP or Windows Vista. And since we do not ship new versions of Windows every year, using a date did not make sense."
So much for the big Windows naming convention change 12 years back, designed to make things "clear", but OK.
"Likewise, coming up with an all-new "aspirational" name does not do justice to what we are trying to achieve, which is to stay firmly rooted in our aspirations for Windows Vista, while evolving and refining the substantial investments in platform technology in Windows Vista into the next generation of Windows."
That sounds like Microsoft doesn't want press, analysts and customers becoming obsessed with a big new name that would see Windows Vista lost in bunch of noise.
"Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore 'Windows 7' just makes sense," Nash said.®


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A Short Guide to Understanding Female Genital Cutting
Female genital cutting (FGC) used to be an issue that only feminists and anthropologists discussed. Over the past decade, however, the issue has been rising in the global agenda. Just this past month, a newKurdistani film on FGC made waves in the international media, a podcast about the issue was broadcast by the Guardian, and UNICEF held a global conference dedicated to ending the practice. Even with increased publicity around the issue, many global audiences do not yet understand the complexities behind FGC, and effective approaches to change the practice. Below, Dalberg Dakar's Tania Beard presents an overview of FGC, with a focus on the situation in Senegal.
Female genital cutting, also known as female genital mutilation, is the partial or total removal of a girl's external genitalia, often with a rudimentary blade. FGC is believed to have originated in Eastern Nubia, today's Egypt and Sudan. According to some accounts, the practice began with Egyptian pharaohs, who cut the women in their harem to ensure fidelity. This practice became associated with high status, and filtered down through all levels of society as girls were cut in the hope of moving up the social strata.
Origins of Female Genital Cutting
Most often, women conduct FGC procedures. They are frequently professional community cutters or qualified doctors.
Communities in parts of Africa, South East Asia and the Middle East practice FGC. Certain Diaspora groups in the Global North also practice FGC, as they tend to cling to cultural traditions, even after their home communities begin to let them go.
One of the greatest misconceptions surrounding FGC is that the procedure has a strong link to Islam, a relationship practitioners often cite as justification for cutting. In reality, FGC pre-dates the advent of Islam and Christianity, and diverse religious communities practice it today.
Why do communities practice FGC?
Often, practicing communities have multiple justifications for FGC. In one of the most conservative areas in southern Senegal, one imam told me that women are cut because it makes them healthier, more beautiful, and crucially, more faithful. Were it not for the cutting tradition, he said, "Women would be jumping on top of all the men." The most widely held justification for FGC, however, is that the practice is a deeply ingrained tradition.
The social norms theory suggests that the practice of FGC is driven by a community-wide social obligation to cut. In Senegal, the social norms approach can help us understand why FGC persists. As a social norm, FGC is based on social expectations to cut and thus provokes positive sanctions when enacted, and negative sanctions when avoided. Where FGC is linked to marriageability, the community tends to believe that girls who are not cut will not get married and therefore, will not have a place in the community. Understanding FGC as a social norm thus has important implications for mobilizing effective interventions, though it is just one approach and its effectiveness varies depending on local context. Graphic used courtesy of UNICEF's ChildInfo.org.
What is the harm of FGC?
In addition to the adverse health effects associated with FGC, the practice is internationally recognized as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.
What is being done to stop FGC?
Interventions designed from a single angle often are not comprehensive enough to elicit large-scale change. For instance, interventions in Egypt that approached the practice through the lens of health concerns have contributed to the medicalization, rather than elimination, of the practice; in some areas, popular sentiment became: "If it is bad for us, then we will go to a doctor to do it."
Tostan is one organization working to end FGC. Their model uses a three-year informal education program that is holistic, taught in local languages, and based around a series of discussions facilitated by a trained volunteer – often a member of the village or wider ethno-linguistic group.
These discussions do not focus exclusively on FGC, but rather couch the practice within a wider human rights framework including topics such as health, hygiene, human rights and responsibilities, problem-solving, literacy, and community management. When Malicounda Bambara was the first Senegalese village of to stand up to publically abandon the practice of FGC in 1997, it was an unanticipated consequence of the Tostan program rather than one of its stated objectives.
Social norms approaches, similar to the Tostan model, rely on social diffusion, or the process of acquiring critical mass. In Senegal, even if individuals within the practicing community wish to put an end to the cutting tradition, they are unlikely to succeed on their own. Rather, social expectations in the wider community must change through a process that often involves both men and women, village authorities, groups who traditionally inter-marry, and even the Diaspora. In the case of Tostan, social diffusion often culminates in a series of public declarations marking the end of the social norm and creating new expectations not to cut.
When can we expect FGC to end?
Foot binding, another practice driven by social norms, was a dangerous, debilitating and painful convention practiced in China from the tenth century to the 1900s. Communities suggested the practice would ensure a good marriage, uphold women's virtues, and guarantee the honor of her family, not unlike FGC. The practice of foot binding was abandoned in one generation through education and a series of public declarations, suggesting that FGC could see a similar demise.
Over the past 50 years, FGC has moved from a fringe concern to an issue on the radar of the wider development community.
Tostan, The Orchid Project, Sister Fa, and Daughters of Eve have all helped drive the movement to bring FGC out of the shadows. These four organizations use an array of approaches to change, from feminist-driven to social norms-influencing, as they work to end the practice of female genital cutting.
Ending FGC is one important step to advance the status of women worldwide. To learn more about Dalberg's gender-related work, click here.
Tania Beard is a consultant in the Dakar office of Dalberg Global Development Advisors.
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- Efua Dorkenoo OBE, the 'incredible African female warrior', has died
- New study in Oman shows high prevalence of FGM all over the country


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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Alex Gordon drove in David Lough in the 10th inning Wednesday night, giving the Kansas City Royals a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves and a split of their two-game series.
Lough had entered the game the previous inning as a pinch hitter, but was still at-bat because Elliot Johnson was picked off first base to end the ninth. Lough singled off Braves reliever Alex Wood (0-2) to start the 10th and then reached second when Miguel Tejada laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt.
That set the stage for Gordon, who hit a solo home run earlier in the game. He dropped a base hit into shallow left field, allowing Lough to score easily as the Royals spilled from their dugout.
Aaron Crow (4-3) worked the 10th inning for the Royals, who had lost five of their last six. It was the sixth time in the last eight games that Kansas City played a one-run contest.
The Royals were actually in control through six innings.
Gordon ended a 159 at-bat homerless drought with his first-inning shot, the first leadoff homer of the season for the Royals. It was Gordon's first home run since May 9 at Baltimore.
Billy Butler added a two-out double to right, and then the big DH chugged home when Salvador Perez got just enough of the bat on a pitch from Mike Minor to hit a single to left field.
The Royals tacked on another run in the third when Gordon singled to lead off the inning. Alcides Escobar put runners on the corners with nobody out before Eric Hosmer lined into a double play, but Butler managed to bring Gordon home with a timely single to make it 3-0.
That was all the offense until Luis Mendoza started to unravel in the seventh inning.
The Royals starter kept the Braves off balance with a mixture of fastballs and sliders, and had given up just three hits to that point. But he'd put runners on the corners with two outs when he was lifted for left-hander Bruce Chen, who promptly served up an RBI single to pinch-hitter Reed Johnson.
Chen walked Jason Heyward to load the bases and was replaced by right-hander Luke Hochevar, who gave up a tying two-run single to Justin Upton. Heyward was thrown out at third on the play to end the inning.
Minor allowed three runs on nine hits over six innings, while Mendoza gave up two runs on five hits over 6 2-3 innings. Neither of them factored into the decision.
Instead, it came down to a duel between bullpens.
Alex Avilan and Jordan Walden breezed through the Royals lineup, the only blip coming when Mike Moustakas singled off Walden with two outs in the ninth inning. Johnson came in to pinch run and strayed too far from first base, allowing Walden to pick him off and end the inning.
Hochevar wound up going 1 1-3 innings for the Royals, who brought in star closer Greg Holland to pitch the ninth inning. He struck out the side on just 11 pitches.
Gordons RBI single in 10th lifts Royals past Braves
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IT'S HARD TO overstate how much was at stake as Chief Justice John Roberts began reading the Supreme Court's decision on the health care law Thursday morning:the fate of 50 million Americans who lack health insurance; possibly, President Obama's own fate; the outcome of a reform battle that dates back 100 years; and the scope of Congress's powers going forward. The 5-4 decision upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was, first and foremost, a victory for the president and the law's supporters. But it also stands as a victory of sorts for conservatives in the limits it sets on federal power.
The confusion as the decision was being announced — CNN and Fox News erroneously reported that the individual mandate at the heart of the law had been struck down — stemmed from Roberts' unexpected approach to the case. He began by endorsing the argument made by the law's opponents (and Justices Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and Kennedy) that the mandate violates the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.
"The individual mandate cannot be upheld as an exercise of Congress's power under the Commerce Clause," he wrote. "That Clause authorizes Congress to regulate interstate commerce, not to order individuals to engage in it" — in other words, Congress cannot compel people to buy health insurance.
But Roberts then went on to uphold the mandate under Congress's taxing power, ruling that the penalty for not obtaining health coverage was tantamount to a tax and therefore allowable. This was not the primary, or even the secondary, argument for the law's constitutionality advanced by Solicitor General Donald Verrilli when he argued the government's case. Nevertheless, it was enough to save the law.
Most Republicans were confused and apoplectic about Roberts's decision: Why would a chief justice nominated by a Republican president uphold a sweeping, bitterly contested law signed by the Democrat who succeeded him?
The answer is that Roberts's decision was conservative, but not nakedly partisan. He adhered to the court's traditional deference to the legislative branch, citing the 1895 opinion in Hooper v. California, which states that "every reasonable construction must be resorted to, in order to save a statute from unconstitutionality."
However, in justifying the mandate under the taxing power, Roberts found a far more limited construction than that followed by the liberal justices, which also restricts Congress's power to act under the Commerce Clause.
This latter power has been used to justify social welfare laws for generations and was supposed to justify the Affordable Care Act. That a majority of the court ruled that it isn't a valid justification is an important precedent because it appears to limit federal power. Over the long term, this bodes well for conservatives eager to constrain the further growth of government. But Republicans aren't taking much solace in the decision because most of them are focused on the near term.
Politically, the ruling helps Obama in three ways.
First, it preserves his major achievement. Obamacare may not be especially popular, but for it to have been struck down would have badly damaged Obama's reelection chances by feeding into Mitt Romney's main critique of him as a well-intentioned man simply not up to the job of governing.
Second, having the imprimatur of the Supreme Court, and especially its conservative chief justice, should dispel the charge that the law is a monument to "liberal overreach" in a way that a 5-4 victory with the moderate Justice Kennedy as the deciding vote would not have.
Finally, the fact that the law was substantially upheld makes it much easier for Obama and Democrats to move on, and much harder for Republicans to repeal it, than if the mandate had been struck down and only portions of the law retained. This would have caused chaos and given a hypothetical President Romney and his party much more leeway to operate.
In his response to the court's decision, Romney adamantly maintained his intention to repeal the law. But the burden is now on him to explain what he would replace it with — and then to win the election, hope Republicans win the House and Senate, and find some way to get health care legislation through. He'll need only look to the current occupant of the Oval Office to see that this is, though not impossible, an extraordinarily difficult thing to do.
Joshua Green is national correspondent for Bloomberg Businessweek. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaGreen.


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Today's Runes for Jessica Alba
rune is used to gain a quick insight into what drives the situation, or to reduce it to the most concise summary possible.
Stone Runes
are most commonly used for questions about the natural world and things beyond human control.
The rune represents the critical factor in the issue at hand.
is the rune of joy. The reversal of this rune suggests that joy is withheld. Since joy is frequently communal, this rune often suggests loneliness. Alternatively, some have seen Wunjo as the rune of perfection and the rune of the gods. Therefore this rune reversed could signal a feeling of separation from one's deity, or as imperfection in an important work.
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I agree, we know him well enough to know that he is just trolling/not actually a racist. But it's pretty colossally fucking stupid of him to engage in that shit in his host country ffs. If he wants mercy he should just own up to saying vile things to get a rise out of people and admit to being an asshole. Just not THAT kind of asshole. Lol. And really, asking people on TA for help? He is delusional.
punishment's big surprise?
Its easy judge without context. The guy who took it out of a private group did it to sell his shitty craft beer. He has been detained by the po. The doxx is all fake. And Jenny, the "i know him well enough" comment is lol af. Anyone got a photohosting site that still works to show context? Fuck this site us 1942 af.
___________________ Freak Out T�ng Zh�
Well I mean, at least we know you're not truly a psychopath. Cause then at least you would have faked shame and/or remorse to help your cause.
Im not in the clink. The chink is, although im not in the clear by a stretch. Im the new iron sheik...over 100 million views on weibo and articles with 0 fact checking in actual "respectable" publications certainly do the business more than no easter pizzas or "hi dad" mouth dicks. Its funny becauss the gov said they would delete the posts for slander, yet one of them had a picture from one of the officers interogating me at the station in them. File hosting site. Its too gold not to share as a final shitpost swan song.
It's pretty embarrassing that you're still up to this crap at 40 years old, and that it seems like you're proud of it to boot. Grow up already. You've certainly proven you aren't getting more clever as you age. Good lord.
Aren't you doing the same right now? This is why cock wallets cant lead coutries. Merkle and May have wangs.
But yeah, good luck with everything.
quote:Originally posted by Dykes_on_Jay Anyone got a photohosting site that still works to show context? Been using this one to post memes: https://imgbb.com/
___________________ 201
Maybe you�re right, sounds like he hasn�t learned his lesson same ole Jay.
Are we sure that Jay isn't actually racist? He may do his shtick to provoke, but that doesn't mean it isn't prejudice. I've never seen him say or do anything that could be construed as "nice".
___________________ Mixes: > Back To Deep [Deep Trippy House] > Terra Nova [Modern Progressive Trance] > Rough & Ready [Modern Trance] >A Different Energy [Good Modern Trance] > The Edale Mix [Panoramic Beats]
The man married a chinese, has a chinese kid, is italian probably, and listens to Chic.
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Blog Tip 24. Say it Out Loud
Sometimes I think a lot clearer and come up with better content when I say it out loud before I write it. I wrote about this briefly in Tip 3 but I realized after writing that just how useful the technique has been for me over the years and decided that it deserves a post of it's own.
As I mentioned in Tip 3, this is a technique I quite often use in my public speaking. If I've got a topic but don't know how to say it I find verbalizing it (usually to myself) can be a brilliant way of bringing clarity and to explore the different options that might come.
As I speak I usually have a whiteboard that I scribble on to record where my one sided conversation leads me. When I use this technique I often pretend that I'm speaking to another person, trying to explain the topic that I'm exploring.
It took me a while to get used to the idea of talking to myself (they say it's the first sign of madness don't they?) but once I got over the fear of someone walking in I got used to it and quite enjoy the process. I find I'm often at my most creative in these times and it can lead me to some surprising results.
Of course you don't have to do it to an empty room – you can find a real person to have a two sided conversation with – just make sure you take a pen and paper and take a few notes along the way.
You might even like to try recording yourself in these times – it could turn into a podcast if you find you've got a knack for it.
Read the rest of the Battling Bloggers Block series


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Prostate cancer affects more men than any other type of cancer — approximately one in six men will be diagnosed with it.
Although two-thirds of prostate cancers grow slowly and are largely asymptomatic, the remaining third of prostate cancers are aggressive and deadly, killing more men than any other cancer besides lung cancer. Prostate cancer is caused by the unchecked proliferation of cells in the prostate — the male gland that makes some of the fluids found in semen. The underlying cause of this cellular proliferation, however, is still not well understood.
Age and ethnicity are two of the most significant factors influencing a man's risk of prostate cancer. Risk increases with age, and two-thirds of cases occur in men over the age of 65. In fact, 80% of men aged 80 or older have cancerous prostate cells. Ethnicity is another risk factor; the cancer is most common in men of African ancestry and least common in men of Asian ancestry, with individuals of European ancestry at intermediate risk. The high rate of prostate cancer in African Americans may not be totally attributable to ethnicity, however; African Americans have higher prostate cancer rates than Africans living in Africa, suggesting that diet or other non-genetic factors may also contribute.
In addition, genetics significantly contribute to prostate cancer risk. Twin studies suggest that heritability of prostate cancer is around 40%, making it one of the most heritable of cancers. The genetic aspect of prostate cancer is further underscored by the increased incidence observed in those with a family history; having a brother or father with prostate cancer doubles a man's risk. Many studies have attempted to uncover the genes responsible for this genetic and familial risk, and when all the known associations are taken together, they explain approximately a quarter of the familial risk.
Screening for and managing prostate cancer is yet another big question mark. The widely-used PSA test, which measures levels of prostate-specific antigen, has recently come under fire as a screening and diagnostic tool for prostate cancer. Generally speaking, cancerous prostate cells produce more prostate-specific antigen than healthy prostate cells, but there is considerable variation between healthy individuals and many non-cancerous conditions can lead to increased prostate-specific antigens levels. A report by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force argues that overdiagnosis resulting from PSA screening is actually doing more harm than good due to unnecessary surgeries and treatments that can have complications ranging from erectile dysfunction and incontinence to life-threatening blood clots and heart attacks. Because of this, the task force no longer recommends regular PSA screening, although not all physicians agree.
Given our current, limited understanding, prostate cancer is a paradox: it is arguably both one of the most deadly and one of the most benign cancers. Prostate cancer kills more men over the age of 75 than any other cancer, but the vast majority of cases are non-aggressive, slow-growing, and asymptomatic, to the point where doctors debate whether to screen for it. More research may help uncover more genetic and non-genetic factors that predict or distinguish different forms of prostate cancer or lead to better ways to screen effectively for this common disease.